Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Due to loud, non-rhythmic pounding from a construction project next door, today's video, featuring a Super Bowl party-inspired chicken nugget, will be delayed until later this evening, or tomorrow morning. I hope/predict it will be worth the wait. Stay tuned!

Friday, January 27, 2017

Don’t let the catchy name fool you; this sloppy Joe-inspired
dip really shouldn’t cause that big a mess at your Super Bowl party, just as
long as your guests aren’t too sloppy themselves. You can test them by having
them pronounce, “sloppy dip.” If they say it more like, “shloppy dip,” cut them
off.

For me this checks all the boxes for a hot party dip. It’s
relatively cheap, and easy to make, but maybe more importantly, it’s great hot,
warm, or room temp. It’s also incredibly versatile, and I can think of about
two-dozen things off the top of my head that would be great in this.

Like I said in the video, you don’t have to present this as
a baked dip. You can just leave it on the stove, on low, for guests to dip
into. People are always hanging out in that area anyway. Otherwise, you can
broil it in any oven-safe casserole dish, or do it in a sauce pan like I did,
which can also be kept on low heat after browning the cheese. No matter how you
serve it, I hope you give this great, and sloppy dip a try soon. Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Spanish rice was one of the first recipes I made for my
parents after returning home from my first semester at culinary school. Ironically,
I didn’t learn the recipe in class, but rather at a Mexican restaurant I worked
at part-time.

I don’t remember much from that job, or decade, but I’ll
never forget how that rice was put together, and that’s exactly how we’re doing
it here – except for one minor detail. We’re not using rice.

I really love farro, and have used it in various rice preparations,
always with great results. This was no exception, and maybe my favorite so far.
This larger, meatier, “ancient” grain pairs perfect with the spices, and I find
it even easier to cook perfectly than rice.

If you don’t have a pan like the one used in the video,
simply prepare everything in a skillet. Once your broth starts to boil, transfer
it into a 2-quart casserole dish, wrap with foil, and proceed as directed.
Either way, I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Friday, January 20, 2017

I don’t do a lot of sandwich videos, which is a shame, since
the blog posts are pretty easy to write. Anyway, as promised during the last
bread video, here’s how I like to build a Cuban, or Cubano sandwich.

From the early, non-troll feedback, I hear we did a pretty
good job, except apparently I was supposed to serve some mojo sauce as a
condiment. We did a beef mojo, which would not be great in this, but I
don’t think we’ve ever filmed the sauce. Consider it on the list.

Slices of citrus-roasted pork seem to be very common in the
sandwich, but I prefer more of a pulled pork. I used our paper pork recipe,
which was great, but carnitas, generously moistened with some of its own
fat, would also work quite well.

I've always assumed that day-old bread was perfect for grilled sandwiches, but I've heard that real Cubans aremade on fresh bread, and that people who use stale are crazy. What say you?Regardless of how fresh your bread is, I
really hope you give this Cuban sandwich a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

There are no amounts given, since you are the Mark of your
Cuban, and fully capable of deciding how much “stuff” to use. Good luck!

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

I didn’t think I liked Cuban sandwiches, and even went so far as to publicly call them
overrated, but it turns out I was eating them on the wrong bread.

You can’t
just use any old sandwich roll, and this fact was lost on me until I had one on
the real deal. Shortly after finishing, I recanted every negative comment I’d
previously made.

By the way, if you’ve
never heard of a Cuban sandwich, stay tuned, because that will be the star of
our next video. If you want to get a head start, besides practicing the bread,
you’ll need some type of roasted, or pulled pork; and I’m happy to report we have many
recipes that would work, including our famous paper pork,pulled pork, or
carnitas.

One thing that makes
this bread unique, besides the addition of lard, is the double-hit of yeast. We
use dry yeast to start the dough, as usual, but also add a starter that we let
ferment overnight. I assume that’s to provide a little extra flavor, as well as
a some additional lift, but I didn’t want to do too much research, since I do
enjoy a little mystery with these types of things.

Traditionally, some
of the starter is saved, with a little fresh water and flour added, and kept in
the fridge to make more bread. Not a bad idea, otherwise you can probably just
add all of it to the dough. You’ll probably need a bit more flour, but as I
stressed in the video, we’re going to be feeling for that anyway. So, stay
tuned for the Cubano sandwich video, and in the meantime, I really hope you give
this bread a try soon. Enjoy!

For the starter:

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon dry
active yeast

- mix well and
refrigerate overnight

For the dough:

1 package active dry yeast2 teaspoonssugar3/4 cup warm water

- mix and let stand 15 minutes

- add starter from day before (reserve
1/4 cup if you want to keep your starter going), plus:

Friday, January 13, 2017

Every once in a while, I get a food wish that has nothing to
do with a specific recipe, but rather it’s a request to post something
complicated, and challenging to do. Well, this country-style pâté is about as
close as we’re going to get.

Calling this recipe complicated is sort of a stretch; "involved” would probably be more accurate. There are many steps, and the ingredient list isn’t short, but none of
the techniques are very difficult, or particularly time-consuming.

Coarsely grinding the meat is probably the most crucial
step, but as you saw, if the meat is very cold, the attachment on your stand
mixer will do an adequate job. If you don’t have one, you can pulse on and off
in a food processor, and as long as your meat was partially frozen, this will
work.

Another option is just to place your meat order with a real
butcher, and ask them to coarsely grind it all together for you, after which
you can simply process the rest of your ingredients, and add them to your
already ground meat and fat. Speaking of fat, I used some chopped up bacon, but
virtually any kind of pork fat will work.

If you do use bacon, either in the pâté, orto wrap with, I
suggest using one that’s lightly smoked, so as not to overpower the rest of the
flavors. Anyway,I realize this may seem
like quite a production, but if you enjoy charcuterie, this would make for a very fun, beautiful,and quite delicious project. I
hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

I saw a charred broccoli salad online somewhere recently,
and for whatever reason I had the idea to try the same technique for a fairly
classic version of broccoli beef. Getting to burn food on purpose is always
fun, and in addition to adding a whole extra layer of flavor, I love how this
looks.

There’s never been a pretty broccoli beef, but I’d say this
is at least handsome, and to make it even more attractive, feel free to double
the sauce. The amounts below make just enough to glaze, plus a few extra
tablespoons, so it you want lots of sauce to saturate your rice, you should
probably make extra.

As I mentioned in the video, never use cooking sherry for
cooking with sherry.Just use sherry. The
kind you drink. The good news is, we’re going to let you buy the cheapest
bottle at the wine store. Cooking sherry tastes horrible, and has salt added to
it, which was originally there so cooks wouldn’t drink it.

If you do make this, and you’re wondering why it doesn’t taste
as good as the one from the Chinese takeout place, well, I can answer that in three
initials, M.S.G. I’m not a fan of what it does the body, and don’t use it in my
cooking, but if you do sprinkle some in, I think you’ll find it remarkably
close. Plus, they’re not charring the broccoli. I really hope you give this a
try soon. Enjoy!

Saturday, January 7, 2017

It was one of those weeks. The holiday pushed me off
schedule by a day; they’re doing construction next door, which means I can’t
record at certain times; and if that wasn’t enough, this amazing looking soup
was a total disaster – a temporary disaster – but a disaster nonetheless.

The good news is, I saved it in the end, and hopefully we’ll
all be better for it. Turns out a cheesy crouton, like one you’d enjoy on a
French onion soup, is a terrible idea, if your soup is extra thick, and
bordering on a purée.

I came close to tossing everything, and ordering pizza, but
what kind of example would that set? So I thinned it out, passed it through a
fire mesh strainer, and gave it another try. This made it significantly better,
and the ingredient amounts seen below have been adjusted, so you should get a texture
similar to my final version.

I’m not sure when/if I’ll try this again, but if I do, I’ll use
small croutons, so I can eat it without drenching all the cheesy bread with the
first few bites. While I officially hope you give this a try soon, I secretly
hope you experiment with better soup choices to use this potentially great
technique. Enjoy!

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

I try not to do recipe names that sound way better than
they taste, but I went with coconut cream French toast anyway. I didn’t think
“coconut French toast” did this justice, and while certainly not pie-like, the
flavor profile was kind of close, and I was very pleased with the results.

I was debating whether to coat the soaked bread with raw
coconut, and toast it while the slices were frying in the butter, but decided
it would be smarter to do it separately. That way we get perfect
golden-brown flakes, without having to risk it getting too dark in the pan.

By the way, I can’ t stress how important it is to not use fresh
bread. The drier the bread, the better the French toast, since you’ll be absorbing
the maximum amount of our creamy coconut batter. So, the next time you have half a
loaf of bread leftover from a dinner, slice it up, and leave it out overnight
to dry.

If you want to cheat, you can lightly toast fresh bread
beforehand, which, after cooling, will sort of simulate stale bread. Either
way, I really hope you give this coconut cream French toast recipe a try soon.
Enjoy!

Ingredients for two portions of 3 half-slices of bread:

3 thick slices very stale French or Italian bread (cut in
half to make 6 pieces)